11 September 2013

SHOULD THEY SEE ROMANCE? OR SHOULD WE SEE THE CHANGE?

By Siddhant Lahiri, Account Planning Manager, JWT Gurgaon

A wise man once
told me that change cannot be inflicted upon people – it must be infected. A
head-on confrontation will invariably face resistance from those who are set in
their ways; for change to truly occur, it must be seeped in gradually, pushing
the envelope one inch at a time.

I was reminded
of this last weekend, when I was watching the delightful Shuddh Desi Romance. This is a film that, even if it doesn’t create
change, will certainly create ripples. This
essay is not a review – rather, this is a discussion about films (and this one
in particular) as a barometer of changing attitudes amongst young Indians. Films
are often said to be a reflection of society – but films need not limit
themselves to mere reflection. When done correctly, they can lead, they can
teach; they can force society to think, to believe, to question and sometimes
even change.

WHY THIS FILM MATTERS

This film is remarkable
for the way writer Jaideep Sahni and director Maneesh Sharma create a world in
which daring, revolutionary events occur, but so subtly and casually do they
take place that instead of affronting sensibilities, they seem like the only
natural course of action.

Prima facie, this is a film that deals with
live-in relationships – which is hardly revolutionary new ground. An
increasingly common phrase being brandished about today by mass media,
advertising and TV serials, live-in relationships were introduced to mainstream
Bollywood seven years ago, via a reasonably entertaining rom-com called Salaam Namaste. It was the story of a
couple who were in a live-in relationship simply because, due to their
different work schedules, they had no other way of spending time with each
other. Since then, many films have shown couples who chose this lifestyle out of
willingness, not as the last resort. However, Shuddh Desi Romance pushes this to a whole new level, and in the
process challenges a lot of the classic Bollywood conventions – as well as
those of the traditional Indian mind-set.

LIVE IN. DRAMA OUT.

Live-in relationships in
this film are approached with a refreshingly frank casualness. This becomes
doubly important because this story, unlike Salaam
Namaste, is not set in Australia. It is not even set in Mumbai or Delhi.
The story takes place in a very middle class neighbourhood in Jaipur. The
couple embarks on this living arrangement with an incredibly nonchalant
attitude, wasting no time in bunking together literally from the second time
they meet, and not for a second are they concerned about society, parents, etc.
Sure, he is officially still introduced as her ‘brother’ in order to not offend
some social fabric, but the film acutely observes that this fools no one; while
simultaneously pointing out that the couple do not let the society comment on or
intrude into their living arrangement. It tells us two things: living in is only as big a deal as you make
it, and society will only matter if you let it.

MARRIAGE IS NOT THE ONLY
HAPPY ENDING

The film is
traditionally mainstream in that the characters eventually do succumb to love
and progress towards a happy ending – however, these characters don’t
necessarily believe that their happy ending should be the same as yours, or any
of the ones we have been fed by films. Once all the romantic complications are
resolved and the central couple has decided to settle down with each other, the
film casually, almost inevitably, threatens to veer towards a
‘they-get-married-and-live-happily-ever-after’ conclusion – and then, in a reassuringly,
blessedly confident ending, it shuns the
entire notion of marriage as the only eventual destination. This is behaviourally
consistent with these characters: after all, both the parties in this
commitment-phobic couple have run away from weddings earlier, and the film
thankfully does not try and accommodate a traditional happy ending by piling on
a last-minute reversal of beliefs for them. This modern couple sees no reason
for a marriage – they are in love, they are together, they are happy: where is
the need for a big, exhibitionist wedding or the impositions of a marriage? If
it is argued that the eventual aim of a marriage is to live together happily,
then this couple is already doing that, without all the other unnecessary
trappings.

The boldness of
this ending cannot be understated. In all the films that have ever depicted a
live-in relationship, it is viewed almost as an apologetic precursor to the
eventual wedding. However, to this couple, and perhaps to many urban lovers in
India today, living-in is not a rehearsal for marriage: it is the real thing;
an equally valid life choice. The argument is simple: get married because you want to, not because you have to.

WHY THE FILM-MAKER MATTERS

It must be
remembered that this film comes from the house of Yashraj Films. Yashraj Films,
in the world of Indian cinema, is effectively the embodiment of the
establishment. It is a company which, for over thirty years, has fed us one
wedding video after another. It is impossible to go to any wedding today
without feeling like an actor in a ‘Best of Yashraj’ music video. Then again,
it was this company that also brought us Salaam
Namaste.

People often believe
that Hindi Cinema will change because of the wild, experimental film-making of
the outsiders in this industry: the Anurag Kashyaps, the Dibakar Bannerjees, etc.
But that is a misconception – these film-makers live on the fringes on the
industry. Those on the fringes can never bring change at a mass level. If an
industry must change in anyway, change has to happen at its fulcrum, by people
with substantial mass, and who can genuinely affect things – people like
Yashraj Films. The fringe players at most are the missionaries – their task
must be to convert, to infect; they must inspire change at the fulcrum.
Arguably, this is starting to happen – not only are their films starting to
affect the films of the Goliaths (be it in terms of actors, technicians,
subjects or story-telling techniques) but the fringe players are increasingly
collaborating with the latter to create change at the fulcrum. In fact, Dibakar
Bannerjee’s next film is a co-production with Yashraj Films, starring Sushant
Singh Rajput.

Thus, rather
than the harbingers of change, the fringe players and the outsiders must be the
missionaries – because real change will only happen when those in the fulcrum
have been infected.

Someone told me
that for a film that is so eager to severe ties with the conventionalities and
coy-ness of the traditional Hindi film romance, it is ironic that the film is
called Shuddh Desi Romance (Pure,
Indian Romance). Perhaps. Perhaps it was intended as irony. I see it as
extremely acute: when India is changing, why should the definition of the pure
Indian romance stay the same?

(For more details on the complete study, please write to siddhant.lahiri@jwt.com)

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